How women in the workplace remain their own worst enemy

Ladies, I think we have a lot to learn from the firing of Jill Abramson, former editor of the New York Times. And I think a lot of this situation shines light on things we’ve already known for a long time.

One thing we do know is that Abramson was fired not long after hiring a lawyer to look into allegations that her salary differed so greatly from her male co-workers.

“She learned that her salary as managing editor, $398,000, was less than that of the male managing editor for news operations, John Geddes. She also learned that her salary as Washington bureau chief, from 2000 to 2003, was a hundred thousand dollars less than that of her successor in that position, Phil Taubman.”

Obviously these salary numbers are hard to comprehend for someone like, say, me, whose ambitions have less to do with income and more to do with not hating everyone and everything at their job. But I guarantee that if the income of everyone at your company suddenly became public information, a lot of the women in your workplace might have something to say about their salary.

There’s a reason companies enforce rules about not discussing your salary with co-workers — and that reason has a lot to do with keeping you in the dark about salary discrepancies.

That said, I think there are some ways we ladies can reclaim our power in the workplace.

1. Let’s stop dressing like we’re on our way to cocktail hour. This is a pretty unpopular opinion, but I stick by it: The modern American workplace should bare little resemblance to Mad Men.

I’m looking forward to a future where women become self-aware enough not to teeter around Planet Earth every single day in six-inch heels — it’s fun to look fabulous from time to time, but you do realize you’re doing permanent damage to yourself by wearing those consistently, right? Be kind to yourself — life is long and flats are super-cute these days.

Some of the clothing we wear in the workplace is another way we give men (who wear sensible shoes and suits, naturally) an advantage over us as we wobble through our offices in peep-toe stilettos and skin-tight backless cocktail dresses.

I may dress in jeans and a ratty T-shirt for work, but my Chuck Taylors will be a godsend if, say, a major news event happens and I find myself sprinting across downtown with a camera, as I did the day of the Jefferson County Courthouse shooting a couple years ago. On such a day, I hope the co-workers sprinting alongside me are dressed just as sensibly.

I support our right to wear what we want, but I also support my right to be as comfortable — and covered — as my male co-workers.

2. Start talking about your salary. I have zero qualms with answering the question, “What do you make?” especially to young people getting their start in the working world — knowledge is power. While I don’t believe a salary is the most important part of a job, I once walked out on a restaurant job after finding out that a big chunk of female servers’ pooled tips were being pocketed by the male owners.

Actually, we all walked out — and that restaurant closed not long after.

By the way, did you know that the National Labor Relations Act makes clauses that prohibit salary discussion illegal under federal law?

According to the Texas Workforce Commission, Section 7 of that act “gives all employees the right to ‘engage in concerted activities,’ including the right to discuss their terms and conditions of employment with each other.”

3. Make your own rules. When I started at my first job out of college, I read the dress code — which stated, quite clearly, that women should not wear too much make-up, “nor too little.” That was in 2009, so obviously the workplace won’t evolve until we stand up for ourselves a little.

As a teenager, my first few part-time jobs required women to wear skirts, so I showed up in trousers like my male co-workers until that rule was rightly disregarded. Which brings me to my final request of women in the workplace:

4. Do good work. If you’re such a good worker that your boss wouldn’t dare fire you over something as stupid as a skirt requirement, you’ve won the battle without even bringing gender into the equation.